There are many stories that tell how in ancient times, when Buddha Shakyamuni was alive, socalledkhyimdag (wealthy householders) or jindag (donors) invited the Buddha and his retinue totheir countries, and the Buddha transmitted the sacred Dharma to those fortunate beings. Thesewealthy individuals were putting into practice generosity, which is the first of the six paramitas, andgathered a vast accumulation of merits. This should be recognized as the unsurpassable behavior ofa Bodhisattva. We can understand this by the following examples.A very famous story in the Bodhisattva Vehicle tells that once, at the time of Buddha Shakyamuni,in China there was an important and wealthy householder called Hashang. He had very strongdevotion and desire to invite the Buddha from India to China, but since the distance between thetwo countries was so great, and travelling so difficult, he understood that his desire was very hard torealize. Thus he remained with the thought, "What can I do about it?" Then a wise follower of theBuddha advised him, "Even though it is very difficult for you to invite Buddha Shakyamuni inperson from India to China, since the Buddha is omniscient, invoke him one-pointedly and invitehim one day for lunch. The Buddha and the Arhats of his retinue who are endowed with miraculouspowers will arrive for the midday meal!"The great householder Hashang arranged everything as advised, and when the time for the middaymeal came, the Buddha together with the Arhats endowed with miraculous powers, known as the"sixteen elders", arrived at the house of Hashang and partook of the food, thus completely fulfillingthe wish of the great householder. Today, in most of the Buddhist sacred places in China and Tibetthere are representations of the sixteen elders, and they all originate from the story of when theBuddha with his retinue travelled to China miraculously. The opportunity which the householderHashang had to invite the Buddha and his retinue was due to an enormous accumulation of merits.Therefore from that time, the custom arose to place a big or small statue of Hashang in allhouseholds in China, Tibet, and Mongolia, with the belief that, thanks to the power of the vastmerits produced by Hashang, in every house where his statue was displayed all good things such asprosperity and wealth would naturally increase. For this reason the representation of Hashang isvery widespread in all regions. However, most people do not know Hashang's story, and in theWestern world it has also happened that those who possessed such a statue believed it to be arepresentation of the Buddha.In the histories of the teaching of the Secret Mantra it is told that once, when Buddha Shakyamuniwas alive, in the kingdom of Uddiyana there was a very powerful king called Indrabhuti. He hadvery sincere faith and devotion to the Buddha and therefore he invited some pandits who weredisciples of the Buddha and honored them as royal priests. One day the king said to the royalpriests, "I have the greatest desire to invite Buddha Shakyamuni to the country of Uddiyana, but asthe distance between India and Uddiyana is very great, travelling is not safe, and so forth, it seemsthat I will not have the fortune to meet the Buddha, and that we do not have the merits to make theBuddha come to the land of Uddiyana. Alas! What can we do?"Thus he lamented, but the pandits who were present advised him unanimously, "Since BuddhaShakyamuni is omniscient, he must surely know about your wish. He is endowed with miraculouspowers, therefore if you invoke him with fervent devotion and invite him for the midday meal, theBuddha will arrive here for lunch miraculously. Thus you will be able to meet the Buddha!"The king of Uddiyana arranged the midday meal perfectly as advised by the royal pandits, andprayed one-pointedly to the Buddha. When the time for the midday meal came, the Buddha arrivedat the royal palace of Uddiyana together with his retinue endowed with miraculous powers. Whenthe Buddha and his retinue had finished their meal, they recited:Through the power of this vast offeringMay all beings attain spontaneous enlightenment,And may all those who have not been liberated by previous BuddhasBe liberated by this act of generosity.After this dedication and invocation, the king of Uddiyana addressed the Buddha, "BhagavanBuddha! I have an immense desire to follow your teaching and reach the state of supremeliberation. However, since I have the responsibility to look after both the kingdom and my family,there is no way for me to renounce this and be ordained as a monk, and thus to practice yourteachings."Bhagavan Buddha replied, "Great king! Following and practicing the sacred teaching must be inaccordance with the capacities of individuals. Since there are various capacities, it does not meanthat all those who enter the sacred Dharma must necessarily abandon their families, become monksand practice solely according to the path of renunciation. There are also profound upadeshas forindividuals of high capacity who can attain enlightenment through the path of transformation,without renouncing emotions and enjoyments."Then the king of Uddiyana asked, "Supreme teacher, please teach me this extraordinary teaching!"Accordingly, the Buddha saw that he was a special disciple and in an instant manifested as themandala of Shri Guhyasamaja, both as the dimension and its deities inside, and transmitted thecomplete upadesha of the profound path of Vajrayana transformation. This is narrated in the historyof the Guhyasamaja. Thus, also from the origins of the diffusion of the Secret Mantra teaching wecan clearly understand the importance of being a donor.When Bodhisattvas, the offspring of the Buddhas, enter the Mahayana path and apply sublimeBodhisattva behavior, they engage in the famous "six paramitas": generosity, morality, patience,diligence, meditation, and discriminative wisdom. The first of the six is the paramita of generosity,which is subdivided into three aspects, the gift of the teaching, the gift of material things, and thegift of protection from fear.The gift of the teachingThe supreme generosity is the gift of the sacred teaching for saving sentient beings from the greatocean of suffering. Of course the highest generosity is the "gift of the teaching", when teachers whoare able to directly teach the path of liberation perfectly transmit the sacred Dharma to other beingsvoluntarily taking care to benefit them. Nevertheless, if one does not have this capacity, evenbringing about with pure intention the favorable conditions for teachers to transmit the Dharma, orhelping in various ways, directly or indirectly, so that unfortunate beings who lack the favorableconditions for receiving the Dharma may obtain the possibility of receiving it, are extraordinary"gifts of the teaching".The gift of material thingsThe gift of material things means to make material offerings, large or small, with generosity,without hoping for an immediate or karmic reward, and without the concept of the giver, thereceiver and the giving, to any beings afflicted by poverty. As far as making the "water offering" tothe beings who dwell in the ocean, or the "burnt offering" to those beings who feed on smell, all areincluded in the "gift of material things". In reality, wealthy householders who have the courage tomake the supreme offering, by giving to destitute students the favorable conditions to listen, study,and practice the sacred Dharma, certainly show unsurpassable excellent behavior in which the giftof the teaching and the gift of material things are inseparable.The gift of protection from fearAll beings are afflicted by the famous "eight and sixteen fears" until they die. Giving assistance andprotection from these fears as much as one can, directly or indirectly, is known as the gift ofprotection from fear. Nevertheless, in the excellent behavior explained above in which the gift ofthe teaching and the gift of material things are inseparable, also the gift of protection from fear isnaturally included. In fact, all of us are miserable beings subject to karma and emotions, imprisonedin the net of infinite suffering of the ocean of samsara, always afflicted by continuous fears,absolutely similar to animals in the hands of a butcher. The only method to release us from all thisis the sacred Dharma, and the Dharma has to be received from a supreme teacher, and listened to,studied, and practiced in order to integrate it into ourselves and achieve the state of liberation.Therefore, to offer destitute beings the necessary conditions to follow the sacred Dharma andliberate themselves from the fears of samsara is certainly an extraordinary "gift of protection fromfear". Being such the nature of the three kinds of gifts, and especially of the gift of the teaching, it isvery important that we, while living in the dualistic vision, precisely put into practice this excellentbehavior, and follow the principle by which "behavior must be according to the place and time".The way to put into practice this excellent behaviorWhenever, in any country of this world, we want to invite a Master who teaches the pure sacredDharma and organize a teaching retreat, whether big or small, the indispensable preliminary step isthat the Gakhyil, who has the responsibility for the Dzogchen Community, be it large or small,jointly (decides to) completely fulfill the wishes of the Community. From ancient times until now,in the eyes of all human beings, it has always been clear that trying to achieve worldly riches,power, position, and so forth, by means of the Dharma is a type of behavior contrary to the Dharma,while undertaking hardships and applying perseverance as much as possible for the sake of theDharma is a type of behavior corresponding to the Dharma. However, it is very easy to understandthat if someone, for the sake of the Dharma, imposes an enrolment fee on those who wish to receivethe Dharma, this is contrary to correct behavior. Nevertheless, in our present condition, if we haveto invite a Master to a country in order to fulfill the wishes of the students, there are manyexpenditures, such as those for the Master’s travel and the stay, for the place where the retreat is tobe held, and so forth. If we lack these factors, it is clearly evident that there is no way to establish ateaching retreat in that place. Although making all participants of a teaching retreat pay for all theexpenses of that retreat is not in complete accordance with the principle of the sacred Dharma,because of the conditions of the place and time, it has been considered indispensable to adopt thissystem, and therefore the necessity has arisen for all students to pay a sort of enrolment fee in orderto attend a teaching retreat.In the future, in order to be in total accordance with the principle of the sacred Dharma and to beable to put into practice in an authentic way the "behavior according to place and time" withoutleaving it as a mere talk, any Gakhyil of the Dzogchen Community that, on the basis of the wishesof Community members and of the various necessities of the place and time, has to plan theorganization of a teaching retreat, whether big or small, must first of all follow this fundamentalprocedure:1) First of all the particular reason or importance of that teaching retreat has to be widelycommunicated to all Community members so that a clear understanding of it may arise in allthose who are interested.2) Those who wish to sponsor the specific teaching retreat, either an individual donor or agroup, must inform the Gakhyil in due time, and then the Gakhyil together with the sponsorshould decide the place and time of the retreat, and all its necessary factors.3) The Gakhyil and the sponsor must jointly take full charge of the teaching retreat, and ensurethat all the activities of the retreat will be perfectly accomplished.4) All Community members, both as a group or individuals, will only make donations andpresents to the Master and to the Community according to their wishes, and no specificenrolment fee will be requested.5) It is important that the sponsors, without wishing for an immediate or karmic reward, train inthe excellent behavior of the Bodhisattvas, scions of the Buddhas, and that they do not evenshow an air of self-importance in front of the Community for the fact that they are sponsors.6) The Master, the Gakhyil and all the members of the Community will rejoice in the merits ofsuch sponsors, and properly express the wish that they may attain inexhaustible happiness.These six points which are related to the principle of the six spaces of Samantabhadra, I, theDzogchenpa Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, offer to all the members of the Dzogchen Community as ameans to keep presence and awareness alive. May good things increase!

This is excellent, and a very timely teaching. One question, though... What's a gakhyil in this context?

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

4) All Community members, both as a group or individuals, will only make donations andpresents to the Master and to the Community according to their wishes, and no specificenrollment fee will be requested.

oldbob wrote:4) All Community members, both as a group or individuals, will only make donations andpresents to the Master and to the Community according to their wishes, and no specificenrollment fee will be requested.

This is what the Rangjung Yeshe Gomde centres have been doing for several years now: offerings for teachings (to both lama and translator) are voluntary. The only costs are for food and lodging and this is kept as low as possible. While for those who still can't afford it various work/study options are provided. It's been a very successful model for them. So good to see that it is catching on.

Sometimes the problem or rather the expense is added to because of the people who travel with the " Rinpoche" sometimes 3-4 attendants etc all this is additional cost. I like the idea of the centres or groups visited sharing the cost and for people attending simply offering whatever donation can be afforded.